Fax Attendant 400

Fax Attendant 400 is a browser-based utility application which runs on your iSeries along with the TF400 messaging software. It allows you to monitor and view messages, the status of your TF400 drivers, and the system health. It also alerts you via email or via iSeries message queues if it notices problems with message delivery.

From here you can start and stop the service by entering a 1 or a 0 next to the FAXATTD Job.

In order to allow Fax Attendant to start automatically, the following data area must be set

[TLXLIB]/FAXATD = '1'

Where [TLXLIB] represents the TLX file library (for example TLXP).

License Code

Fax Attendant 400 also has an associated data area which contains the product license code. This will be supplied by International Presence and should be entered into the following data area:

[TLXLIB]/EXPATD

Browsing to Fax Attendant

Open your Web Browser and access Fax Attendant via the following URL:

http://[iseries_hostname]:[port]/

[iseries_hostname] represents your iSeries hostname or IP address. [port] represents the port that Fax Attendant is listening on - typically port 85 by default. If the iSeries firewall does not block the port, and if the software is running correctly, you should see the following welcome screen.

This tells Fax Attendant where on the iSeries IFS to store its temporary / working files. The default is the /FaxAttendant/Files/ folder in /Root. This screen also allows you to specify which types of logging you would like to store in the logs files. Click "Next >" to continue.

This screen allows you to specify the length of time that files should be retained before being automatically archived and cleaned. Once the first number of days has elapsed files are added to zip archives, then when a further n days have elapsed these are permanently deleted.

This is the penultimate configuration screen and allows you to specify the web server preferences - ie the port that Fax Attendant runs on, and users who are permitted to access it.

You can change the port from the default (85) by entering a new value into the field labelled "FaxCloud Management Console Port".

Notes on Permissions

By default there are no users set up for access to FaxAttendant 400. This means that anyone can browse to the URL and have full control and access. This probably isn't what you want in a live environment.

Once a user has been created, general access is disabled. To create a new user, click the "Add User" button. You can now enter a username and password and select "User" or "Admin" role. Users with "User" role only have access to the dashboard, alerts, outbound, logs screens. Users with "Admin" privileges can also access the configuration screens.

Once you have created your users, click "Next >" to continue to the final configuration screen:

Here you can set up your SMTP server (for outgoing emails) and alert preferences including iSeries Message Queues.

If your SMTP server supports TLS or SSL encryption, you can specify the protocol by pre-pending the URL as follows:

SSL://smtp.host.com

or

TLS://smtp.host.com

Consult your mail server documentation to find out which method is preferred and which port is used. For GMail servers, use port 587 for TLS and port 465 for SSL.

Click the "Send Test Email" button to ensure that the settings are correct. If you do not wish to receive email alerts, select "No" for the appropriate options.

iSeries Message Queue Details

Here you can enter the queue name (eg QSECOFR, TLXOPR, etc) and the library name as well as the minimum message frequency (one hour by default). To test the settings click the "Send Test Message" button, which will launch a pop-up window. Note that messages are sent to the iSeries that Fax Attendant is running on.

Clicking "Next >" will navigate to the confirmation screen. You must click "Finish" in order for your settings to be saved.

iSeries Configuration

Once you have completed the initial configuration you will be presented with the iSeries configuration screen. Click the "+ Create New" button to enter new iSeries details. You can create one or more iSeries hosts for FaxAttendant to communicate with.

Enter the name, hostname, fax library, connection username (usually TLXDRIVER), matching password, CloudFax driver location (usually /QOpenSys/CloudFax400), and an offline string if appropriate. The offline string tells FaxAttendant that it should not attempt to connect to the iSeries during these times (such as maintenance).

Clicking the "Test" button will validate the connection parameters and auto-populate any TF400 (IMPS) Gateway installations associated with the drivers on the TF400 installation for this iSeries. You can verify these by clicking the "Test" buttons and delete any which you don't think are appropriate.

When you are satisfied with the settings, click the "Okay" button. This will update the config file however Fax Attendant services will need to be restarted for the changes to take effect..

Dashboard Page

The Audit Summary graph shows a high level overview of the status of the last 20, 50, 100, 200 or 500 faxes across all iSeries and all drivers.

The Faxes Processed summary allows you to see when your peak times are and if there are trouble times when more messages fail to deliver. Perhaps this can help you to consider rescheduling some messages.

The Failure Reasons graph shows the most common reasons for faxes failing, per iSeries.

The Disk Space graphs show a used / free disk space pie graph for each unit on each configured iSeries. This allows you to see if disk space is becoming a problem.

Links are provided to two built in reports. Both are also available as XML reports:

Top Failed Numbers

The most frequent telephone numbers that fail to deliver.

Top Failed-To-Queue Numbers

These may indicate commonly mis-entered dial strings that may need investigating.

Drivers Screen

This gives a high level overview of all TF400 drivers that are configured and enabled, on all iSeries and allows you to view their status (Running, Stopped or Check). A check status means that the driver has not updated the TF400MON file for a while so may need investigating, and is accompanied by a warning icon.

Alerts

These are the built in alert queries that run periodically for each configured iSeries. Individual alerts can be enabled or disabled so that you can stop receiving emails or message queue alerts.

Check Drivers Reading Queue

Problem: When the drivers read the message queue they update a field in TF400MON. This alert ensures that the field is updated in a timely manner and fires an event if not.

Solution: Check the status of the driver in "Drivers" screen. Is there a "Check" status? If so a message may need clearing and the driver may need restarting through option 11 in the TLX menu.

Check For Messages Left In Relay Status

Problem: This alert fires when the current relayed value is equal to or greater than maximum allowed relay value for driver and when the driver is not updating the TF400MON file in a timely manner.

Solution: This might indicate an issue with the driver (in which case restarting it may alleviate the problem) or with the Faxcom server or remote Cloud server. Please contact International Presence support for further assistance.

Check For Statuses Not Updating

Problem: Drivers may not be updating the status fields in TF400MON.

Solution: Check the status of the driver in "Drivers" screen. Is there a "Check" status? If so a message may need clearing and the driver may need restarting through option 11 in the TLX menu. If this does not clear the problem, contact International Presence support.

Check Driver Running Normally

Problem: If this alert fires it means that one or more IMPS or IMPS2 servers may not be running correctly as they are not updating appropriate time fields.

Solution: Restart the IMPS2 or IMPS server then restart the driver. If this does not clear the problem, contact International Presence support.

Check for Messages Stuck In Relay

Problem: When this alert fires it means that at least 15 messages are stuck in "relay" status, meaning they have been passed off to the fax server but no updated status has been returned after one hour.

Solution: Check the faxcom server or remote Cloud service. If the message show as gone (or failed) then possibly the status is not updating on the driver, in which case it will need to be restarted. If this does not solve the problem please contact International Presence Support.

Check TF400 Gateways Listening

Problem: A routine socket connection to the IMPS2 Gateway was unsuccessful. This may mean that the program has ended or the server may be powered down.

Solution: Check that the impsgateway.exe is running on the remote host detailed in the alert. Check the machine is powered up. If the problem persists please contact International Presence support.

Check For Overloaded Drivers

Problem: Like "Check For Messages Left In Relay Status" this reports that the current relay count is greater than the maximum allowed, which may indicate a problem with synchronization between the servers and with status updates.

Solution: Check the status of the outstanding messages on the remote fax server or cloud server. Restart drivers if necessary. If problem persists contact International Presence support.

Check Drivers Picking Up Messages

Problem: Drivers are failing to process messages from the RTGI file. The alert is triggered if live messages are found and no activity has been logged by the driver for 20 minutes. If the messages have been assigned to a driver but that driver is stopped, they will be ignored.

Solution: Restart the driver. If this is unsuccessful, please contact International Presence Support.

Check Emails Stuck In Relay

Problem: Email messages have been in relay status for over one hour.

Solution: Email Gateway may need restarting or machine may be powered down. If problem persists please contact International Presence support.

Alert Delivery

Alerts can either be sent as a digest message to your email (see config above) or as an informational message on an iSeries message queue:

Outbound Screen

This displays a table view of the message queue. Results can be filtered by using the panel on the left hand side. "Search Term" filters by the text content of the message subject, recipient, and message ID. You can also filter by the message submission date by using the date fields (clicking the date field brings up a calendar input pane). Additionally you can filter by which iSeries the message originated from.

The fields visible are as following:

iSeries Host / Driver ID

Status / Message ID

Recipient / Dial String

Subject

Clicking on a message brings additional details and allows you to download the contents of the message if they have been created by the native driver.

Logs

This displays the Fax Attendant logs and allows you to filter the display by log type.